The best way to read 'Asterix'.

[geopolitix]

Is it just me or does Obelix sound like 'oh, bollocks'? I think it's a joke! Just like one of the towns being called Laudanum.  :)

Pinky. x

It is indeed a pun like ALL the names, but it has nothing to do with bollocks ...  ;D

http://images.google.fr/images?q=obelisk&hl=fr

[invisifan]

It is indeed a pun like ALL the names, but it has nothing to do with bollocks ...  ;D

True - and despite the similarity of obelisks to menhirs (which I suspect influenced his choice of profession) they ren't the joke either ...  when doing footnotes these days we use superscripts, BUT they (not that long ago) used the star (*) & dagger (†) ...  and those symbols' proper names happen to be Asterisk & Obelisk ...

[geopolitix]

Thank you.
It must be because Goscinny worked in the USA because in French it's not called 'obélisque' AFAIK (I checked in the dictionnary out and it doesn't appear as such), though ' * ' is also known as 'astérisque' in French language.

[invisifan]

it's not called 'obélisque' AFAIK (I checked in the dictionnary out and it doesn't appear as such)

It's obscure - you won't find it in many English dictionaries either - like the ampersand and octothorpe people rarely use the technical terms in common usage...  You might have to go to a typography manual to find it these days ::)

[Christine]

The french word for the cross in typography is "obèle" ; obélisque exists too, but is apparently a bit old-fashionned.
Maybe Goscinny was indeed accustomed to the version more widely used in English.
See : http://www.apropos-savoir.fr/_pg/search ... ob%C3%A8le

In reply to Invisifan, here are translations of typographical signs in french, in the form that hardly anybody uses :
 ampersand "&",  = "perluète" or "esperluette" in french
 octothorpe "#" = "octothorpe", "croisillon"
                    "<at>" = 'arrobe' or 'arobase' (from the Arabic ar-robas, meaning... one quarter !).
 Look like comics swear-words, all these #<at>& !!     ;D

[geopolitix]

Interesting.
Thanks to both of you. You are part of very tiny elite that actualy know the true origin of obélix's name  ;D

[Christine]

Actually, I read the story rather recently (in a magazine special issue about Asterix).
I must have spent 33 years of my life believing that 'Obelix' was a reference to egyptian monuments (big, solid, like Obelix and like his menhirs).

BTW : the first time I saw a typographical obelisque in a document, it was in a scientific paper, after an author's name. Because it has the shape of a cross, I thought it indicated that the poor chap was dead !
In fact, as Invisifan said, it was a footnote mark, to indicate which institute he was working in.

[Pinky]

Wow, that's a nice wee nugget of knowledge about Obelix's name. :)

[Jochgem]

The name of Obelix was also a topic at the Asterix exhibition it Brussels. You can here see his symbol, that of Asterix just at the right.



Picture taken from the huge set available at  http://asterixbruxelles.free.fr/ but downsized.

HJ "Jochgem"

[Magnet]

The problem is thought that a few years ago I tryed reading them in order and it was so confusing. The art style of the first one was differnet to the second, Dogmatix was in the second but not the first, he turned up books later. I was wondering what was going on? Then I went on the net and found out that The company that published them in Britain had re-ordered them. Thankfully I found out that Orion had started to publish them in the right order.
                                                   Magnet

[Lava Man]

I love asterix ;D

[Sukisuix]

The problem is thought that a few years ago I tryed reading them in order and it was so confusing. The art style of the first one was differnet to the second, Dogmatix was in the second but not the first, he turned up books later. I was wondering what was going on? Then I went on the net and found out that The company that published them in Britain had re-ordered them. Thankfully I found out that Orion had started to publish them in the right order.
                                                   Magnet

Yes I agree that was a problem in Britain.  "Those British publishers were crazy"  I also had the other problem, my mum worked in a library and brought home the books when ever they were there.  That would mean you would get The Laurel Wreath and then The Gladiator then maybe Britain.  There was alot I never read as a child I had to wait till I was working to be able to buy them.  And then I just brought them as I could and did not matter about the order as long as I got another book. Then when I had the collection I was able to read them in order and appreciate the stories and the progression of the art work:)
Now with Orion publishing them in the right order, it will be better for the new generation of readers to appreciate and grow to love Asterix, like the older generation ;)

[janika]

hi! Please could you advise me? I´am looking for the name of album, where Asterix and Obelix are somewhere in Rome(I think it´s Rome) and they must go to a big administration building and the officers let them run up and down, they should become crazy but... and then they get another work to go to pub and eat everything they would be given... I know it is not much information, but ... so thank you ::)

[Sukisuix]

This happens in The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (story telling book) and can be seen in the film of the same name.

[Erik]

Hello janika,

I´am looking for the name of album, where Asterix and Obelix are somewhere in Rome(I think it´s Rome) and they must go to a big administration building and the officers let them run up and down, they should become crazy but... and then they get another work to go to pub and eat everything they would be given...

this is not from one of the 33 regular Asterix albums, but from the 3rd Asterix cartoon. The title is "The Twelve Tasks of Asterix". There also is a comic-version of this movie, but I don't know, whether this was published in english as well. The comic-version was not drawn by Albert Uderzo himself anyway, but as far as I know by his brother Marcel Uderzo.

The task with the super-menue Obelix has to eat is the 6th task, the one in the "House of Madness" (I don't know its real english name) is the 8th one.

For further information about the cartoon, look here:
http://www.asterix.co.nz/movies/twelvetasks.htm

Regards
Erik

Edit: Oops... Sukisuix was the faster one.